Vindictive looks ready to fire in 2022 opener
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A half a world away and a day before his more heralded stablemate Life Is Good goes off the favorite in the $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan, Vindictive looks like he’ll hold a similar role for trainer Todd Pletcher in a second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claimer going 1 1/8 miles on Friday at Aqueduct. The nine-race card kicks off the final week of the winter meet.
Vindictive, a half-brother to 2015 Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Stopchargingmaria, has not been out since last Nov. 27 when he stumbled at the start of the Grade 3 Discovery here and declined to change leads in the stretch, finishing third, 1 1/4 lengths behind winner Miles D.
“He got a little bit out of position,” said Byron Hughes, Belmont Park-based assistant to Pletcher. “He still ran well.”
Speaker’s Corner finished second in the Discovery and has come back to win the Grade 3 Fred Hooper at Gulfstream Park and, most recently and impressively, the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile.
Vindictive won a pair of 1 1/8-mile races at Saratoga last summer before finishing fifth going one turn in this condition last October at Belmont in his start prior to the Discovery.
Vindictive has spent the bulk of the winter training at the Palm Beach Downs training center in South Florida. He shipped up to New York last weekend.
“He looks great, coat looks good,” Hughes said. “He looks like a horse that spent the winter in Florida.”
With a clean break under Kendrick Carmouche, Vindictive figures to be forwardly placed in a race that doesn’t have much confirmed speed on paper.
“He’s a pretty handy horse,” Hughes said. “You can put him wherever you like.”
The Pletcher barn also sends out Too Boss, who looks a bit overmatched coming off a sixth-place finish going seven furlongs in this condition on Feb. 27. He is attempting 1 1/8 miles for the first time in what will be his eighth start.
Among Vindictive’s rivals is Risk Taking, who last winter won a pair of 1 1/8-mile races at Aqueduct, including the Grade 3 Withers. He finished seventh as the favorite in the Wood Memorial and ran eighth in the Preakness. He’s raced only twice since then, finishing fourth and fifth in this condition. Trainer Chad Brown is removing the blinkers from Risk Taking’s equipment on Friday.
Risk Taking had his most recent workout with 2022 Withers winner Early Voting, going a half-mile in 48.84 seconds last Friday over the Belmont Park training track.
The Reds returns to the races for the first time since he finished seventh in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby last June 26. He won a 1 1/8-mile maiden race at Aqueduct 14 months ago and his other win came via disqualification in the Federico Tesio Stakes 11 months ago at Pimlico.
Mo Gotcha, Famished, and Pretty Good Year – the only horse in the race offered for the claiming price – complete the field.